Great Yarmouth Borough Council

GREAT YARMOUTH BOROUGH COUNCIL

Tender for Treasury Management Services

TENDER PACK

TREASURY MANAGEMENT SERVICES

2010/11 & 2011/12

BACKGROUND INFORMATION

Great Yarmouth Borough Council is retendering the contract for treasury management advisors. The new contract will cover the financial years 2010/11 and 2011/12 with a possible extension for one year to 2012/13.

Great Yarmouth’s treasury operations include a debt portfolio of £36m and short term investments of approximately £10m.

The authority has a Housing Revenue Account and its policy is to ensure its borrowing is either below the Capital Financing Requirement or matches it in its borrowing strategy.

The investment strategy is designed to eliminate risk first and foremost. As far as investment criteria go, the Council has not chosen to place all deposits with the DMO and continues to use a select group of counterparties for investment purposes using some of the highest credit ratings available (Fitch F1+ AA-).

The successful consultancy will liaise closely with the Head of Financial Services and officers in the treasury team to ensure the Council’s treasury strategy is designed to achieve the best performance.

Suitable candidates should have a strong track record of advising local authorities on treasury matters and adding value to decision making.

Prospective applicants should complete the attached pro forma, and the exercise that accompanies this tender, and return their tender submission by Friday 5 February 2010.

SCHEDULE OF DUTIES

The schedule of duties for the Treasury Management consultants are:

To provide independent investment advice to the Head of Financial Services and officers reporting to him on treasury matters. These officers may include (but are not restricted to) Service Unit Manager (Technical) Donna Summers, Capital Accountant Helena Craske, Technical Supervisor Donna Anderson, Technical Assistant Jenni Richards and Technical Assistant Margaret Nevin.

In particular this will call for a detailed review of all aspects of Treasury Management Strategy and Treasury Management Outturn reports which are prepared for our Executive Committee, Mayor and Cabinet and are formally agreed by full Council.

Advice will be required to be given on any treasury management related issues, but specific requirements include:

• The preparation and review of the annual Treasury Management Strategy and the Treasury Management Outturn reports
• Half yearly meeting with officers to review borrowing and investment strategies and recommend alternative options that deliver the Council’s objectives
• Advice on Balance Sheet analysis and strategic options around fixed asset transactions and loan structures
• Assistance with the appointment of Fund Managers such as Money Market Funds
• Regular written briefings for officers on treasury management issues such as accounting and SoRP matters, economic outlooks, counterparty risk, regulation and best practice. Comprehensive interest rate forecasts should be included as part of the written economic outlook commentary.
• Provision of econometric data (e.g. LIBOR/LIBID, PWLB rates and other data feeds)
• A timely Credit rating service for individual institutions and countries, which may or may not include advice to the client on investment with specific parties

PROCESS

You are invited to respond to this tender and present your credentials for the position of treasury management consultants to Great Yarmouth Borough Council.

Please return one electronic copy of the completed questionnaire by noon on Friday 5 February 2010.

Any requests for clarification of the requirements should be addressed to Donna Summers at Great Yarmouth Borough Council on 01493 846214.

After receipt of the completed applications the next stage of the selection process will be to short list applicants by Wednesday 10 February 2010. Successful candidates will be invited to the interview stage of the process on 18 February 2010 in the Town Hall at Great Yarmouth. The panel’s decision will be communicated to attendees the week commencing 22 February 2010.

Receiving this questionnaire does not guarantee you will be invited for an interview. Please make sure any submissions are as complete as possible in order to assist the short listing exercise and give as full a picture of the consultancy services offered. We will let each applicant know if they are required for interview as soon as possible.

CRITERIA FOR AWARD OF THE MANDATES

The criteria for the award of the mandate include:

1. The collective experience of the consultancy for the role of treasury management consultants (20%).
2. Strong commitment to the role of treasury management consultancy (10%).
3. Proven ability in the past to advise Council’s on treasury management matters (20%).
4. The fees which would be charged for the provision of services (25%).
5. The breadth and depth of services offered within the treasury management consultancy (20%).
6. The independence of the advisor from any conflicts of interest (5%).

TENDER DETAILS

1. Please provide your contact details (Company name, registered business address, telephone and fax numbers and email address).

Consultancy Name:

Key contact during tender:

Telephone Number:

Fax Number:

Email Address:

Business Address:

1. Please provide details of your company’s ownership and relationship to other businesses within the group if necessary.
2. Please provide a biography of the key staff within your consultancy including details of their careers to date and experience with advising Councils on Treasury Management issues. Please include details of how many years experience they have had in the treasury management sector and how many years with your company. Finally, please state what their professional qualifications are.
3. Please use the following table to provide a list of current Council’s whom you advise and a contact for each. For each fund please tell us how long you advised them.

1. Please complete the following table on clients you have lost in the past calendar year (ended as at the time you complete this tender response).

1. Please set out how you would intend to fulfil the schedule of duties set out earlier as part of the Treasury Management consultancy services contract. Please address each point specifically.
2. Please submit any relevant reports or other information you feel would demonstrate the support you give to Council’s currently being advised by yourself. This may include (but is not limited to) advice on debt restructuring, technical updates, market advice and economic briefings. Please supply all written briefings to clients over the last three months. We understand that this information will be provided solely for the purposes of this selection process and will not be disclosed to third parties.
3. Please supply details of three instances which would act as good examples where you provided advice to a Council in a similar position to Great Yarmouth that has been successfully implemented and resulted in increased performance. Please try to set out as much as possible about the precise details of the advice that has led to increased performance.
4. Please provide details of your proposed fees to fulfil the role advertised. Please explain exactly what this would and would not include. For exclusions please offer a price for add-ons or bespoke work. This will be indicative and whilst it will remain on record will not form part of the contract but will help in the evaluation of proposals.
5. Please set out your team structure and sate who would be our main relationship contact and set out their experience (over and above the answer to point 2).
6. Please set out what service you offer on the important issue of counterparty risk. Does your service offer anything over and above the pass through of counterparty rating information i.e. advice?
7. How would you deliver your service? E.g. unlimited access to a named contact or several parties, an hourly budget per annum etc.
8. What conferences and training would the contract entitle us to? Please set out fees chargeable for events and training opportunities outside of the contract offering.
9. Please declare if you have links to brokers and/or any other conflicts of interest. If these exist please state how you maintain independence from them. Additionally, if you have a broking arm please state what brokerage fees are and whether the Council would be entitled to discounted rates.
10. Please give the names of three referees who you would be happy for us to approach, either from Norfolk or Suffolk authorities or local authorities with a HRA, who are similar in nature to Great Yarmouth.
11. Please provide us with a copy of your most recent audited accounts.
12. Please provide a copy of your professional indemnity cover.